Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has met with several head of states and foreign ministers, on the sidelines of the 18th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Heads of State and Government Summit.

The Summit -which the foreign minister attended on behalf of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih- was held in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 25-26 October.

Shahid met with leaders from India (Vice President Venkaiah Naidu), Pakistan (President Arif Alvi), Nepal (Prime Minister Sharma Oli), Qatar (State Minister for Foreign Affairs Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi), Malaysia (Prime Minister Mahatir Mohamed), Bangladesh (Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina), Tajikistan (First Deputy Foreign Minister Khusrav Nоziri), Jordan (Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi), Cuba (Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriquez), Azerbaijan (Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov), Afghanistan (President Ashraf Ghani) and Laos (Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office Alounkeo Kittikhoun).

The foreign ministry said that the minister’s meeting with the South Asian and East Asian leaders was focused on bilateral issues and strengthening further relations.

While the Azerbaijan hosted this year’s Summit, the country assumed the presidency of the NAM on Friday.

Hence, during his meeting with Foreign Minister Elmar, Shahid congratulated him on the achievement and assured him of Maldives’ “full support in working together to strengthen bilateral ties in a number of areas.”

While the foreign minister is expected to return early tomorrow, he left the country on October 15.

He first traveled to Bangkok, Thailand where he officially opened the Maldives embassy there, and then headed to Tokyo, Japan to join President Solih. In Japan, the foreign minister signed a 500 million yen (over USD four million) Exchange of Notes on behalf of the government.